His eyes widen slightly at the question, and I hold his gaze.
“No.” His answer has me breathing a silent sigh of relief. “Why? Does it bother you?”
“Does what bother me?”
“I don’t know…. The fact that a woman worked for me? Or is it that you thought she may have been a notch on my bed post?”
“I…” I ponder his question for a moment, and I admit to myself that there is no doubt about it, I am fucking jealous… something I never thought I would be when it came to Nate Knowles. I purse my lips together, refusing to admit what he wants me to, and he chuckles quietly, sipping his coffee with a smug look on his face.
“Why would she do that?” I ask, diverting away from the previous question.
“I don’t know. She had a good job here and was paid well,” he admits with a shrug of his shoulders.
“Must kill you not to know something, huh?” I tease, not wanting the morning to take a nosedive when we seem to be actually having a conversation without sniping at one another.
His smile has me feeling all fucking giddy inside. Jesus.
“Anyway, today I plan to find out a bit more,” he tells me.
“And how are you going to do that?” I ask, curious as to what he has planned, and kind of hoping that I can tag along because I don’t want to be left here all by myself for the whole day––not after last night.
“I’m going to deal with the asshole that attacked you.”
“He’s not dead?”
“No, Kat, he’s not dead.” I breathe a sigh of relief at his words, because thinking I had possibly killed someone was freaking me out. “But he will be,” he adds on, finishing his coffee and placing it down, fixing me with his stare. “And you’re coming with me.”
“I am?”
“Yes.”
“But I don’t want to see that guy ever again,” I say. I don’t want to be anywhere near him.
“You need to face your enemies, Kat, and this guy is your enemy as well as mine. Never shy away, never let them see your weakness. And you need to see how truly dark I can be.”
“But why?” I say, my voice quiet, wondering why on earth I need to witness him doing God knows what.
“Because if you are ever to love me, you need to know every part of me.” And with that, he gets up, places his cup in the sink and walks out of the kitchen, leaving me alone with the words he just said.
“Because if you are ever to love me, you need to know every part of me.”
“Well, fuck.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Nate
She looks nervous, but she doesn’t need to be. I’m here, and it’s my job to protect her––even if I was blind-sided last night by the asshole that I am about to get the truth out of.
I take her hand and lead her from the car. I can feel her hand shaking, so I pull her to my side and wrap my arm around her waist, keeping her close to me, letting her know that she has no need to be frightened.
“It’s going to be okay,” I tell her quietly as we enter a small house that I use for the purpose of getting rid of people. If they end up here, then their life is about to be cut short. The hidden room at my headquarters is where the torture is dragged out, but here, in this house… this is where they die.
“What if I can’t handle it?” she says as we continue to walk through a hallway and enter the kitchen where there is a door that will lead us down to a basement.
“You’ll be fine,” I say adamantly. She’s strong, she can do this. It’s important that she knows me as a whole and not just the bits and pieces I let her see. I need to her witness the lengths I will go to in order to get answers. I meant it when I said to her earlier that she needed to know in order to love me.
Because I want her to love me, eventually.
